


More than Flowers

by Goldielochs



Category: Lore Olympus (Webcomic)
Genre: Coming into her own, Do Not Disturb Persephone when she Reads, Don't do it, Don't forget it, Persephone is a bad bitch
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-07
Updated: 2019-09-07
Packaged: 2020-10-11 22:00:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,356
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20553347
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Goldielochs/pseuds/Goldielochs
Summary: another fucking party scene I'm sorry I'm not sorry.The olympians find out the hard way never to interrupt Persephone when she's reading a book.





	More than Flowers

"Alright," Artemis marched up to the three brothers, "before I freak out and slice that cowlick off the back of your head with the blade of my knife," Her eyes narrowed up at the King of the Underworld. "Is she in your car? Have you kidnapped her again from my protection?"

Hades blanched and held his hands up innocently. The emeralds and rubies adorning his cuffs weighed down and his sleeve slipped to the crook of his elbow. "First off, I don't know what you're talking about. Secondly, I never kidnapped anybody."

"Liar." Artemis brandished her knife up at him threateningly.

"Woah there, spitfire." Poseidon pulled Artemis' shoulders back. "That is not the vibe that's happening right now. Maybe you want to pause on the threats to one of the High King's, huh?" He tried to massage her shoulders in a nice circular motions. "You're too tense. Arty you gotta learn how to go with the flow."

Artemis pushed against Poseidon's hands on her shoulders and spun from his grasp. "Hey pal." She looked him up and down. "How did you get here today?"

"What?"

"You drive a car here or-" Her eyes lit with the quest she had set out for herself. Her knife now spun in the air casually but adeptly. They all were here. All the kings. And all the king's cars. Or maybe he had a boat. She'd key a boat. She didn't care. She could fulfil her promise to Persephone at last.

Hera caught Artemis' knife out of thin air and eyed the goddess of the hunt disdainfully. "No weapons at parties. I'm confiscating this."

"But-"

"No weapons." A golden finger bonked Artemis' forehead.

"It's just a knife." She protested. "What- are you gonna get rid of Ares' pocket knife too?"

Hera frowned in her direction and blinked slowly uncaring.

"You know that rule is broken by everyone here." She tried to follow Hera out to the hallway but Hades stopped her.

"Is something wrong with Persephone?" He figured out what she must have been worried about. If Artemis accused him of kidnapping then she must be missing.

"I-" Artemis huffed regrettably telling Hades this. "I can't find her."

"Again?" Aphrodite heard a commotion and quickly came into the scene with the ScryChat app open just in case something juicy happened. "My my, Artemis. What kind of protector have you been? What would Demeter say if she found out of your lacking duties?"

White lavender knuckles blanched at her side. Artemis grumbled, "She's more trouble than anyone gives her credit for." She felt guilty at the truth of Aphrodite's words, but guilt read as anger on her face.

"Aphrodite, you have no right to talk of Persephone's protection." Hades spoke lowly. His eyes glaring.

The love goddess turned innocently towards him. "Whatever do you mean?" She gasped breathily, an air of a terrible actress about her. Hades face didn't change even as she sauntered up to him and pulled his tie teasingly. "And you have more right than I?" She raised her eyebrow at him.

Hera returned with no knife in her hand. "Stop this." Hera rolled her eyes. "She's a capable girl and doesn't need to be coddled."

"But she's missing." Artemis let out, exasperated at Hera's uncaringness in this situation. Persephone was under Hera's protection too. She should be more concerned.

Hera sighed, her lips fogging up the glass in her hand, and looked pointedly at the window at the opposite side of the room. The ornate purple and gold drapes closed completely, unlike its sister windows. As Artemis looked where Hera did, she saw a flower petal fall beneath the edge of the curtain.

"Missing: she is not." Hera said over her glass and it reverberated oddly back. "Found: she is trying to avoid." Before she could ask Artemis to leave the girl alone, Artemis felt slighted by the young spring goddess avoiding her. She bent down and pulled out another knife kept safe in her girdle and through it at the window. It curved perfectly pinning the curtain back, revealing the hidden goddess behind it.

Persephone sat with her back to the side, One leg out and one leg dipped down below the window sill she sat on. She held an apple in one hand and a book in the other. A small stack of books laid under her bent leg propping up her knee. Her sparkling high waisted skirt draped across her effortlessly, nearly peeping out beneath the bottom of the curtain. Just nearly. A matching sparkling cropped top sparkled across her chest, straining against her voluptuous curves.

Hades softened immediately and looked away. Such serene beauty, too intimate he felt wrong for looking. Obviously she wanted to be hidden and for so many to gaze upon her now made his golden blood boil.

"Persephone!" Artemis marched now, her fury trained away from the Kings now to the very person she sought.

Before the huntress could get another word out Persephone dropped the apple in her lap and held up one resolute finger, silencing Artemis and stopping her in her tracks. Artemis waited for a moment. Persephone turned the page. Artemis tapped her toes on the ground but it became obvious Persephone wasn't going to stop reading as abruptly as she had hoped.

"Persephone-" She lunged forward but then a large bright green leaf zoomed through the air hitting Artemis's lips cutting her off.

"Do not disturb me while I'm reading" Persephone said. "One more step and I'll root you to the ground." Persephone's voice was low, carrying more serious authority than Artemis was used to from the young goddess. She usually talked in unsure questioning sentences, not sure ever what she wanted. A pink confident finger once more commanded her to hush. Something warm filled Hades as he heard this debate. He bit down on his lip to keep a smile from twisting the corners of his mouth up. He'd never heard this kind of forceful power in her voice. The thought of what her wrath might- he turned further away now trying to control himself.

Artemis could hear Aphrodite snickering at her expense. "A leaf would stop the mighty hunter?" She whispered slowly into Posiedon's ear, loud enough for Artemis to hear.

Hera reached to hold Artemis back and take heed of her warning.

"No." Artemis shook her head. "You can't go-" Something began wrapping around her lips. She grasped at the vines but then her hands were yanked down with leafy tendrils. Artemis tried to side step away, but bramble climbed across her shoes, catching her to her place.

Persephone merely sighed and flipped the page once more reading quickly, never taking her eyes off the inked words.

Artemis continued to struggle, pulling against the vines and branches, breaking them off with her strength, but the more she tugged, the more the vines filled the broken gaps. Stronger. And stronger. The restraints turned heavier. Artemis could tug less and less against them. Every snap of closer freedom only ensured a firmer hold against her efforts. The earth itself rose to ensure her down. The vines twisted and then suddenly transformed from dark green to a shining metal link. Links of metal chain. Artemis twistings turned more frantic. She tried to get Persephone's attention but her mouth was closed shut against a metal plate against her lips, clasped to her head with a chain wrapped around her head. The brambles at her feet turned to bars over her feet, trapping her completely to the floor.

Persephone paid little attention to the commotion happening a few feet away from her. In fact she giggled at something she read and sighed contentedly.

Zeus jumped to Artemis' side and tried to help her, but there was no lock, no opening of the chains. He spun in Persephone's direction and back to the chain. Aphrodite pushed through about to scold the young girl before Zeus clapped a hand over her mouth and dragged her backward. She squirmed in his grasp but Zeus deftly ignored her thrashing. Aphrodite thought he might be lewd, but even Zeus wouldn't grab a woman romantically in front of his wife.

Zeus grew very serious and after set her straight motioned for her to stand down cautiously. Artemis began to sweat as she pulled on the restraints. Zues tapped Artemis' shoulder and whispered to that her efforts were in vain. "Patience." Zeus turned back around caught Hades eyes. Something passed between them. Confusion knitted Hades brow. Understanding yes, but bewilderment in his recognition.

Persephone closed her eyes held the book to her chest for a moment as if to hug the words into her clothes and swung her legs down on the floor. She rose up with a stretch and yawned softly, a youthful breath escaping her like the crisp warm breeze of spring.

"Alright. Sorry about that." Persephone set the book down. She stared at the bindings and bit her lip. Then she grabbed it up again and sprinted over to Hera, passing by Artemis who quivered in her place silently. Persephonely innocently held up the book and pointed at it. "Would you mind it terribly if I could borrow this?"

Hera eyed her with a shocked expression planted into her skin as Artemis was planted into the floor. She nodded. "You can take it."

"Really?" Persephone squeezed the book to her chest happily. "Thank you!" She spun away. "Well then. Good night." She moved like the dance of a ballerina out of the room. The crowded gods and goddess watched her silently go, completely breathless.

Zeus was the first one to move. "Careful, Artemis." He warned again, passing the chain links capturing the goddess of the hunt between his fingers. He tried weakly to snap the links, knowing it would be futile. "Do you know these chains that bind you?"

"The fuck was that!" Aphrodite seethed. "That precocious little-"

"Quiet woman." Zues said with an even temper. "If you know what's best for you, you will not anger the Goddess of Tartarus. You've already witnessed just a trifling of her power."

"Tar--" Aphrodite paled.

"Don't say such dark things!" Hera hissed at her husband. "Persephone is a flower and earth goddess."

"She is more than flowers." Hades said softly from the back, more sure of it now than ever.

"Those are no ordinary bindings." Zues continued tapping his foot on the bar rooting Artemis to the ground. "Those are the chains that bind the Titans. Unbreakable." A shiver passed through each and every one of them. A shiver wraked through Hades especially.

A smile crept up the side of Zues' face and he slid his eyes over to Hades who stood stoically trying to process all that he had just witnessed. "Not even Hades can manifest them. And without a key, not even Hades can release it's prisoner."

Aretemis struggled again. Before either of them could speak again, the rosy pink Persephone slipped into the room again and waved. "Oops. I almost forgot. Silly me." Artemis sighed a breath of relief, thinking Persephone had returned to release her.

Then Persephone slinked to the window and pulled back the curtain. When she leaned away again, the straps of her shoes wrapped around her fingers. "Almost forgot my shoes." Persephone laughed at herself. "Well, goodnight." She bowed to the kings, resisting to look at the King of the Underworld in fear that she would be caught staring too long.

"Persephone." Zeus called. "Release Artemis."

Persehpone stopped mid skipped eyeing the king of the gods. "Oh! Certainly." She dipped her head obediently. She walked slowly up to Artemis and passed the chain links under her fingers just as Zues had. "Huh." She said under her breath. "That's new." She bit her lip suddenly nervous. Her wrath did not surprise her. While she was always slow to anger, this one thing- interruptions while she read-quickened her temper like an explosion. Not even her own mother dared disturb her. Persephone should have warned her roommate. She hoped the moonlight goddess would forgive her, but she would not apologize for her reaction. Books were the only things she held sacred. She learned through them and they transported her to places her mother would never take her.

However, the cool metal in her fingers. . . She barely knew she created these bounds. How would she-

Something in her chest filled with fire. Warmth radiating through her. The bindings were made from life. The fire built up till she felt nothing inside of her at all. Purified by the heat. The only way to destroy the chain. The unbreakable chain. She knew now without the thought of knowledge running through her mind. She felt it under her skin.

The link gleamed in between her thumb and middle finger and then Persephone snapped. Friction sparked fire between her fingers and the spark burned, not widely like a forest fire but the embers of a powerful creeping decay. The chain turned black and withered, rimmed with the embers that began to travel up and down, spreading to Artemis' mouth and down to her feet.

Aretmis winced as the flames licked at her skin, knowing she would heal quickly.

Persephone hugged the book closer to her chest and swung her shoes back. She turned to address the Kings and Queens and curtsied. "Good evening, my lords and lady." She said formally. The dark withered chain fell apart, slow quiet embers glowed with red fire on the surface. As the chain fell apart, it scattered into the air and broke into a myriad of darkly colored butterflies. They floating like embers towards Persephone, returning home to the crown of her head, alighting on the laurel crown she wore. The black butterflies rimmed with red fire flapped their wings. Artemis collapsed to the ground finally free. Her breath came out ragged still ripped with undeniable fear.

Persephone rose to her full height then waved at the group once more light heartedly. The whole room wondered what this meant and stared open mouthed at Persephone as the blinking butterfly wings resembled the prongs of a dark crown.


End file.
